I just could not understand why Donald Duck wore a towel when he got out of the shower, but no pants once he got dressed. And why did Minnie and Mickey wear gloves, but Mickey wore no shirt? Goofy and Pluto were both dogs, so why did Goofy get to talk while Pluto walked on all fours and was led around on a leash?

2. Disney made me believe life would be perfect all the time.

I thought my life would be just like the shows I tuned into religiously on the Disney channel: Care Bears would be running around shooting love from their bellies and Charming Princes would be slaying dragons and kissing the Princesses and engaging in other Prince-ly activities. At one point I thought I actually WAS a Care Bear, but I found out I was wrong when I couldn’t shoot love and happiness out of my navel. I thought that the biggest problem in the world was when Daisy Duck couldn’t find her Sunday hat.

3. Disney made me believe that the good guys always win.

By the end, the bad guys were always defeated by the hero. I learned that it is just not that way in real life, although I really wish it could be. I thought that the karmic rule of cartoons applied to real life: the bad guys always got what they deserved. I like to hope that it’s true, but I know that in the real world it can go either way.

4. Disney made me believe that love is easy.

When I was little, I always thought that I would meet someone when I was “grown up” and we would fall in love and ride into the sunset and live happily ever after. End of story. Life never really works like that. I’ve learned that relationships are hard, and even the best relationships have problems. Disney didn’t get love completely right, but their idea is a nice thought.

5. Disney made me believe that my Prince Charming would make all my dreams come true.

I honestly thought that I would marry Cody from The Rescuers Down Under. It broke my heart when I found out I couldn’t because he was a cartoon. It’s a great idea to say that a good man will make me happy, but now I realize that there are so many things in life that will give me happiness. Even if Disney is idealistic, it is still nice to shoot for the happiness that fairy tale princesses achieve by the ending credits.

So basically, Disney has a few misconceptions about the world. For instance, Disney projects that Chip ‘n’ Dale are a pair of furry chipmunks, but the real world proves them wrong. Chippendales are heavily muscled men dancing around in thongs.

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This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.